The Evil Prisoner
by ourheroregina
Summary: Written for Inspired by OQ 2019, 5th entry. Inspired by the amazing art created by orchidfeathers.


Written for Inspired by OQ 2019, 5th entry. Inspired by the amazing art created by orchidfeathers on twitter. You can find the art here: p/BpZ-mykh55e/

This story is also inspired by The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

The Evil Prisoner

Robin enters the tunnel with a tray of food, but as soon as the light illuminates the dark cave, he drops the plastic thing to the hard ground and rushes towards their hostage who's lying in a pool of blood.

The woman lets out a growl of protest, but her voice is weak (it's not a surprise to Robin since she's lost so much blood in the last few days) and she doesn't fight Robin when he brings the lantern up to her face to inspect the injures.

"Who did this to you?" Robin asks quietly, running his thumb over her split lip.

The woman refuses to speak, she always does, the only person she's speaking with is the teenage boy called Henry, and just like for the last few weeks she doesn't respond to Robin. And he doesn't blame her; after all, he was the one who captured her.

The things on Earth have changed years ago when the aliens from another planet, or realm, as they call it, invaded our planet. They started stealing people's bodies, killing everyone in their way and trying to rule the whole world. Only a few people were able to save themselves. Robin and his son were one of them, his wife Marian, however, was killed after years of hiding and now some alien had occupied her body.

Those who survived figured out that there was this _woman_ Regina Mills who was very powerful and had some sort of magic that helped to invade the Earth when it all began, and after doing some digging, they figured out that she was all alone in her house most of the time. Kidnapping her was rather easy.

Robin was the one to do it since she was the one who killed his wife. It was some sort of payback. He was supposed to bring her to their hiding place, get the answers they needed, and then she should've been killed.

He caught her in her bedroom, shot an arrow at her heart and even though it didn't kill her it gave Robin enough time to put a bracelet on her wrist, bracelet that blocked her magic. Soon, he was dragging her out of her own house tied in chains, the sharp end of an arrow pressed against her long neck as a sign of what's to come if she so much as breathes.

Their plan was to figure out how they, the aliens, occupy the body and how to protect themselves from it. However, one of their younger members, Henry, a boy whose both parents were killed by the very same monsters, protected her from death.

He stayed with her in the cave despite everybody begging him to leave the monster alone, and he protected her for weeks, this boy with a heart of gold, until he finally left her alone. And now Robin, who, for some reason, started to _care_ about this terrible woman too, finds her beaten and bleeding.

"I need to find alcohol and –" Robin starts, slowly putting her head back on the ground, but when he's about to stand up, her weak, chained hand grabs his and holds. Robin turns around, surprised to find her looking at him with wide eyes. "I'll be back in a moment, we just need to clean your wound," he tries to tell her but she keeps holding onto his hand, shaking her head slowly.

"Don't go," she whispers, and it's the first time she's ever said something to Robin since he's brought her here.

He's been with her for so many times while Henry ate or washed himself – Henry trusted Robin enough to know that he wouldn't kill this woman if she was important to him -, but she's never spoken to him during any of those times.

"Okay, I'll stay," he tells her and sits down on the ground beside her. "I'll not let them hurt you again," he adds quietly after a while, and as surprising as it seems, he means it. The thought of hurting her is not thrilling anymore.

Spending weeks with her, seeing her with Henry made him realize, that maybe, just maybe she's not all evil. He needs more time to actually get to know her, but he muses that there's more to her story than the desire to rule the world.

Regina doesn't say anything else, she just lies quietly on the hard floor and when Robin hears her start to cry silently, he doesn't say a word, pretends that he's asleep and doesn't hear how she pours her heart out into the stillness of her prison.


End file.
